1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a shielded connector and more precisely a shielded connector of the type comprising a plug and a socket and provided with a locking/unlocking component.
It more particularly concerns connectors designed to be attached onto a flat support, notably a printed circuit board provided with metallized holes.
The Applicant proposed in European Patent Application EPA-0 649,195 a connection element having an insulating bridge piece with a "U" shaped section and elbow contact elements emerging into the "U" structure on one end. The other end is inserted by force ("press fit") into metallized holes of a printed circuit board. Moreover, according to one interesting characteristic, it has a rear insulating component surrounding the electrical contact elements in their bent part and a holding piece also inserted into the printed circuit board.
This connection element forms a socket designed to receive a plug of complementary form. The arrangements used advantageously permit protecting the bridge piece during vacuum soldering operations of the connection element and the other components of the card.
For certain applications, it is necessary to have available a connector that is insensitive to electromagnetic interference, notably when the signals carried are signals called "weak" and at high or very high frequency. To do this, the connector elements must be provided with a shielding. Moreover, a good ground continuity must be made between the two elements (plug and socket), on the one hand, and between the socket and the printed circuit card, on the other hand.
2. Prior Art
Shielded connection elements have been proposed, for example, in the patents U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,624 (Patrick CHAMPION et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,773 (Patrick CHAMPION et al.) or U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,301 (Patrick CHAMPION et al.). These modular connection elements permit creating electrical contacts from a mother card and/or a daughter card.
In order to achieve ground continuity, two elastic metallic projections are provided in the form of a cross, of one piece with the socket and cooperating with openings pierced in the walls facing the socket, so as to come into galvanic contact with the shielding of the corresponding plug. Although this pair of projections exerts a pressure force on the plug, the holding of the plug inside the socket is especially accomplished by inserting the male contact elements of one of the components (for example, the socket) into the female contacts of the other component (for example the plug). In other words, a true locking is not provided and the quality of the ground continuity can fluctuate.
The invention therefore has for a subject a connector provided with an efficacious locking/unlocking component, while remaining simple.
It also has for a subject permitting a good ground continuity between the socket and the plug.
It therefore seeks to simultaneously fulfill these two functions, without having recourse to complex means.
In a preferred variant of embodiment, it also conserves, for the socket, the essentials of the advantageous structure of the connection element according to the above-mentioned European Patent Application EP-A-0 649,195.
In order to achieve the goal set, the invention notably provides a shielding element forming a spring, combined with a separate piece of insulating material arranged on the tip of the socket. The shielding element has a hook cooperating with an opening provided in one wall of the plug for assuring the locking function. Unlocking is effected simply by pressing on the separate piece and withdrawing the plug.
Moreover, the shielding element assures a good ground continuity by applying virtually its entire width on the plug shielding.
The assembly does not perceptibly increase the complexity of the manufacturing operations, nor the manufacturing cost.